Making it Last
by Miss Romance-Lover
Summary: "There isn't going to be a goodbye. We're forever, okay? You're stuck with me." One shot.


**Sooo, even though I've been working on _Unremarkable_, I had a sudden idea for a one shot when I was listening to Taylor Swift's 'Mine' the other day. The lyrics just seemed to fit with Gabriella's character, especially in HSM3. I thought I'd use lines from the song and just adapt them to her thought processes. This is set years after HSM3. So, hope you like this songfic and, as always: Please Review! :)**

Making it Last

_I was a flight risk, with a fear of falling_

_Wondering why we bother with love if it never lasts..._

_I say, can you believe it?_

They still marvelled at how lucky they were to have each other, five years after their first meeting. High school had been and gone, and college was almost over now too. But for Gabriella, the one constant in her life was what got her through all other changes. She was still having to remind herself that Troy wasn't going anywhere. Before he had come along, she had gone through five house moves in five consecutive years. That accounted to _a lot _of goodbyes. And, if it weren't for his determination not to give up on her, she might have had to leave _him_ with a last goodbye too.

_Flash forward and we're taking on the world together..._

It was due to Troy's devotion to her that he and Gabriella found themselves both studying in California – and now they were even living together. They had found the small apartment just before beginning their final year of college, and it was of an almost equal distance between Stanford and Berkley University. Upon graduating from their respective courses, they were hoping to continue living there together. They had made the place their own and were happy together.

The thing was, they were each only working part time hours, and could only just afford to keep up with the monthly rent and bills between them. They knew that as soon as they had completed college, they would be on their own. Not only would they have to find full time jobs; they would also each have a student loan to pay off, as soon as their potential jobs afforded them to do so.

So the couple were beginning to feel the strain and the pressure of these worries. And while they were as content as ever in their relationship; everything else was causing them stress. It was this that led to one eventful evening. A night to remember.

_But we got bills to pay,_

_We got nothing figured out..._

"Mom, listen. I know you're worried, but we'll be fine. Troy and I are happy here. I'm not leaving him to go back to Albuquerque," Gabriella told her mother over the phone.

"Gabi, I'm just asking you to be sensible. You're too young to be settling down, and it shows because neither you nor Troy can afford to live together like you are for much longer."

Gabriella took a deep breath to reply, then let it out again in a long sigh. Her mother had a point. But only about their inability to afford the rent. She knew that 'settling down' with Troy, as her mother called it, was the right decision. They were only twenty-one, but they knew that what they had was real, and they hadn't been hasty.

"It's not like we're getting married already or having kids yet, mom," she finally said in response. "Can't you just give us a chance to try and make this work? We are both fully aware of our money situation right now, and we're looking into job opportunities already."

She could hear her mother sighing exasperatedly in the background, before telling her daughter what she thought. "I'm sorry, but I'm just not convinced. I'm concerned for you, but I guess I can't make you see sense, as you're an adult now. If I had the money, I would make you take enough to sort yourselves out, but..."

"No, I wouldn't take any money and I know Troy wouldn't, either," Gabriella replied. "What we're going through is just part of the process of adulthood, and we'll cope, I promise we will." She was saying it to appease the woman on the other end of the phone; but she wasn't entirely sure if they _could_ cope. She just knew that she couldn't bear the thought of moving away from Troy. Because he seemed to love California so much – who was to say that he would be willing to go back to Albuquerque with her? Not that her mother appeared to be including Troy in the offer of moving 'back home'.

As Gabriella brought the conversation to a close and hung up the phone, the door opened and in a matter of seconds, Troy was in the room with her. She was still thinking over the conversation with her mother, and her face had that faraway look as he sat down beside her and kissed her on the forehead.

_And I remember that fight 2.30am,_

_As everything was slipping right out of our hands..._

"Hey, beautiful. What are you thinking about?" he asked softly as she turned to look at him.

"Hi," she answered quietly. "Oh, it's not important. My mom called, and she tried for an hour to convince me to move back to Albuquerque with her, because of our money worries. Don't worry, I turned her down."

It was now Troy's turn to look thoughtful as he silently considered what he had just heard. He had been worrying himself for weeks over their situation. He felt terrible that he couldn't manage to give his girlfriend a stable living arrangement – and now he was sure her mother would think he was incapable of looking after her. So what was the right thing to do?

After a few minutes, he spoke quietly. "Maybe it would be a good idea." Gabriella's mouth dropped in surprise at his reaction, and it took her a few minutes before she could say anything in return.

"What? You want me to leave?"

Troy was quick to add to his response. "No Gabi, of course I don't. We've been really happy here. But maybe we have to look at the bigger picture – once we graduate, we'll still be looking for work; and it will be all about getting the money to pay for everything. Our first full time jobs should be about moulding our careers, shouldn't it? And on top of all the bills, we're going to be sitting on all this debt – both of us."

"I thought we were doing this together, Troy. It just feels like you're giving up on us," Gabriella told him, feeling let down by his decision.

"This isn't about that, it's about us living here together. I'm not saying that..." Troy was cut off by Gabriella, whose voice was rising.

"But you're basically saying that you want to concentrate on a career, and forget about us for a bit?"

"That's not what I meant, Gabi, listen to me!"

"I can't, I don't want to listen if you're just preparing me for a goodbye. I really thought I wouldn't have to go through it again," she said bitterly, tears now forming in her eyes as she turned away from him.

"Why do you always do that? Gabriella..."

"No! Just...leave me alone, Troy." Running out of the room, she slipped on her nearest pair of shoes and made her way out of the apartment. And she kept running until she was standing outside their building. Mere seconds later, Troy appeared behind her.

_I ran out crying and you followed me out into the streets..._

_Braced myself for the goodbye,_

_'Cause that's all I've ever known..._

"Just listen to me, please," said Troy firmly, placing a hand on Gabriella's shoulder.

"No, I don't want to hear anymore. If this is what you want then I'll just leave, okay?"

Troy moved around her so that he could look her in the eye. "No, it's not okay. Why are you still so willing to believe that you're going to have to say goodbye again? Do you honestly think that I'm just going to wave you off to Albuquerque and leave it at that?"

_And you took me by surprise,_

_You said I'll never leave you alone..._

Gabriella didn't know what she thought now, really. In her head, Troy's decision had sounded like he thought they should just break up, move out and move on. It had sounded like he would rather have a life of his own than with her.

"I wasn't saying you should leave me, and I certainly wasn't intending for there to be a goodbye of any sort. If there's going to be a move back to Albuquerque, to _anywhere; _then I'm coming with you," he told her.

"You...what?" she uttered, waiting for further explanation.

"Obviously I know your mom might not be happy with the idea of me living in the house with you, in which case maybe we'll live with my parents. Even if we can't do that, though, we'll just have to live in our old houses; but we won't be too far from each other."

Gabriella listened to Troy's ramblings and suddenly it all became clear. She'd got it wrong. Just like she had before - assuming that she and Troy would have to separate. She'd let her fear of ever having to say goodbye to him rule her head over her heart.

"So...you don't want me to leave you?" she asked softly, letting herself get lost in his sincere blue eyes.

"Gabi, _I'm _never going to leave _you, _let alone the other way around. I really need you to understand something. There isn't going to be a goodbye for me and you. I thought you already knew that, but just in case I haven't made it clear enough: we're forever, okay? You're stuck with me."

She moved into his arms, and he held her as she cried out all the emotions that had probably lived with her since high school. It was a mixture of everything from her moving days, to losing new friends through yearly goodbyes; and the worry she had always felt deep down, that the man standing in front of her would be someone else she would have to lose one day.

But finally she saw that the last fear was completely unfounded, and that Troy really wasn't going to give up on her.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out amidst her tears. He stroked her hair and pulled back to look at her again, running his thumb across her cheek to wipe away a stray tear.

"Don't be. Just remember what I said. And that I love you, very much."

"I love you, Troy. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I can't believe I almost wrecked it," Gabriella replied, her tears subsiding.

"You didn't," he whispered. "This is it now, okay? Me and you together, no matter where we are or what happens."

Gabriella smiled up at Troy, and he leaned in to gently kiss her. A promise between them that they were going to last the distance.

_Hold on, make it last,_

_Hold on, never turn back..._

**Well, what did you think? If you are reading this, please let me know what you thought, feedback is always useful, plus I love reading it! Thank you :)**


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